The NYPD announced Sunday it will boost police presence at a Manhattan park after an exposé revealed vagrants terrorizing visitors.
The department, responding to reporting on conditions at the $73 million Gansevoort Peninsula park in the Meatpacking District, said it is dispatching both Quality-of-Life teams and patrol units to the 5.5-acre waterfront space. The move came one day after details emerged of unsavory behavior by a group of homeless individuals who have made the trendy green space their hangout.
“The NYPD has an increased presence at the location with both Quality-of-Life teams and patrol units responding,” the department said in a Sunday statement. “Community Affairs officers have been directed to connect with individuals at the location and offer services if appropriate.”
Park visitors had attempted to report problems through official channels. Users said they made 311 calls to complain about the disturbances. However, an NYPD representative said Sunday that “there are no reports or calls on file with the information provided” by the earlier reporting.
The city opened the Gansevoort Peninsula park in 2023 along the Hudson River, featuring sports fields, benches and a boardwalk. The recreational area sits in a neighborhood home to A-list residents including Hailey Bieber, Ben Stiller and Jennifer Lawrence.
Locals said the park has attracted a horde of vagrants who use the upscale space to drink, sleep, bathe and engage in sexual activity. The group typically gathers first at a nearby Mobil gas station to get drunk before heading to the park, residents said, and can swell to a dozen or more individuals.
“There’s a lot of things the kids see that they shouldn’t be seeing,” a Parks Department worker said.
The behavior witnessed at the park included multiple incidents disturbing enough to alarm families with young children. In one recent morning visit, a man wearing a penis mask taunted girls on a soccer field before stripping down and launching into an obscene rant.
“Everyone wants to party, but on one wants to pay for party!” The man yelled.
The man’s mask featured a contraption on his head resembling a middle finger, with the words “sex,” “f–k you” and “Mr. Anger” written on it. He also displayed a “thug life” tattoo and had a face covered in piercings.
About a week before that incident, a vagrant couple from the same group had sex on a nearby bench around 4 p.m. In full view of park-goers. The group has also torched a park bench, according to the reporting.
The unhinged denizens have threatened and taunted visitors of every age since making the park their regular gathering spot, locals said.
In the viral moment that prompted the police response, the full scope of the park’s deterioration became public: vagrants engaging in public sex, burning property, and menacing children with sexually explicit costumes and gestures, all in a park designed as a premium public amenity in one of Manhattan’s most expensive neighborhoods. The $73 million investment, completed just last year, was intended to serve families, athletes and riverfront strollers in an area known for celebrity residents and high-end retail.
The NYPD’s Sunday statement did not specify how long the increased patrols would remain in place or whether any arrests had been made in connection with the reported incidents.